The Scientist
by Kiraya
Summary: Yami x Seto. Nobody said it was easy.


THE SCIENTIST by Kiraya

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! and all associated characters, places, names, blah, blah belong to Takahashi-sama. Contains yaoi (Yami/Seto) and some OOC.

Flashbacks are shown _like this_.

~*~*~

I stare out the enormous windows of the airport and watch the huge metal bird-things -- aibou says they are called planes -- come and go.

I do not like these planes. It was one of them that took him away from me, three years ago almost to this day.

He's not coming back. I don't know why I bother waiting anymore.

We were at the park, Yugi and Jonouchi and myself. They were dueling; I was sitting on a bench nearby, enjoying the rare weather. Hot, they were calling it. Hot, indeed; to one such as I, born and bred in the desert, the day was hardly warm -- but at least it was a break from the unrelieved chill of this land.

_"Yami," came a familiar voice, breaking into my reverie._

_It was my worthy opponent. "Hello, Kaiba," I replied, attempting to sound casual even as my stomach did flip-flops. I had secretly loved my rival for a long time, but there was no way I could ever tell him; my overweening pride would never allow me to lay my heart at his feet, especially when he would probably just laugh in my face. Scooting over, I patted the seat next to me. "Come to challenge me to another duel?"_

_He shook his head and, after a moment of hesitation, sat down beside me. "No. I need... I need to talk to you."_

_This was odd. I wondered what he wanted. "All right. Go ahead."_

_He sat there in silence, knuckling his forehead with a sigh. "Kamisama," he muttered to himself, "I can't do this."_

_"Can't do what?"_

_He opened his mouth, but then turned away._

_"Look at me."_

_His gaze flickered back to me, but only for an instant before he resumed watching my light and his friend, some distance away._

_I took his chin in my hand -- how soft, smooth, warm his skin was beneath my fingers! -- and turned his face towards me. "Please... look at me."_

_His eyes fell shut and he inhaled deeply, leaning into my touch without even seeming to realize he was doing so. Oh, how sweet it felt to be holding him..._

_"Talk to me, Seto," I said softly, fighting the impulse to take him in my arms._

_His sweet blue eyes twitched open, still avoiding mine. "Yami," he whispered. "I... I wanted to... to tell you..."_

_"Yes?" I pressed, drawing closer until I could feel his heated, erratic breath against my cheek._

_He blinked rapidly, shimmering drops of crystal running down his face. "...To... to tell you..."_

_Why are you crying, Seto-love? I tenderly brushed his tears away with my fingers and smiled slightly at him. Please don't._

_"A-aishiteru, Yami," he gasped painfully, grasping my arms firmly, the intense agony in his beautiful eyes making my heart ache. The words continued to tumble in a torrent from his lips. "I want to be with you. I want to hold you in my arms, always, and every night for the rest of forever I want to lay down beside you and make sweet love--"_

"Oh, Seto... my Seto." How hard it must have been for him, setting aside his own immense pride to bare his soul to me! I cupped his handsome face in my hands. "I will never be able to thank you for having the courage to do what I could not," I whispered, and then I kissed him.

And for one wildly passionate, utterly satisfying year after that, life was perfect. We were together whenever possible, and every night we would lie as one and set each others' souls on fire.

But it did not last.

When KaibaCorp announced their decision to establish a branch in America, I knew Seto would be the one to go over there and launch the operation -- he would never trust something that important to anyone else.

And neither of us were bothered by the separation that entailed, for things were different by then. We had become numbed to the spice, the excitement of our love. The spark had dimmed, though I doubt either of us knows why even now. The fire was dying, and neither of us even tried to rekindle it. Neither of us wanted to admit the fact that we'd grown too complacent.

Has the fire died yet, after we've been apart for so long? When I think of him, I can feel it stir, can sense the warm red glow of the coals of my desire.

No, it is not dead. If I saw him, touched him, held him again-- if he stroked me, kissed me, loved me again-- Oh, it would become a raging inferno.

But he's not coming back. He took Mokuba with him, and their house is closed up, silent as a sleeping creature waiting for a spring that will never return.

I need to find him, to talk to him again.

It's up to me, this time.

I stand at the window of my study and look out at the horizon. In all the time I've been here in Seattle, I don't think it's stopped raining for more than a week straight.

I wonder if the whole damn country's like this.

Life has been monotonous. Same thing, day after day, while I look for someone who'll be able to competently run the American branch of KaibaCorp.

Things haven't been promising -- and that's a huge understatement.

Mokuba is at the local arcade with some friends from his new school, so I am alone in the house. Alone with the rain and the memories.

I don't want to be alone anymore.

I miss him. I want him. I need him. I love him. But I can't go back.

I could never tell him that I was a fool, that I made the biggest mistake of my life in leaving him to come here, that I'd do anything to have him back again.

Damn my pride.

I can hear the bell ring down the hall. Who the hell could that be? I make my way to the door and open it--

And stop dead, trying not to stare.

There before me, sagging in exhaustion, stands my shivering, bedraggled former lover, soaked to the skin. He looks at me miserably.

"Yami?" I say, hard-pressed to keep the incredulity out of my voice. What on earth is he doing here, so far from home? "Why--"

"Seto," he whispers, and I can't tell if the wetness trailing down his cheek is rain or tears. "Seto, I love you. I need you back in my life. I miss you more every day -- the loneliness is unbearable, I can't--"

"Shh," I interrupt, brushing one of his damp golden bangs from his face. Putting an arm around his shoulders, I pull him inside, closing the door behind him.

I will never be able to thank you, koi, for having the courage to do what I could not...

~*~*~

owari


End file.
